Latest news with #ChemicalBrothers
Metro
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
Lily Allen reveals abusive ex's brutal put-down to 'assert control' over her
Lily Allen has spoken about how an ex-partner 'bullied and abused her'. Rising to fame in 2005, Lily's debut single Smile reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart, while her debut album Alright, Still peaked at number 2. Throughout her career to date, she's won a Brit Award and been nominated for a Grammy and Laurence Olivier Award. Over the years the 40-year-old has also seen her private life generate plenty of attention, with the star now detailing how a past relationship affected her self-esteem. On the latest episode of her podcast Miss Me?, which she hosts with friend Miquita Oliver, Lily detailed the lengths her ex – who she didn't name – would go to in a bid to assert control over her. Calling the ex 'abusive and bullying', she went on to explain: 'It was somebody I was in a relationship with would do it to me [accusing her of having poor hygiene] and I don't think that it was real'. 'I think that it was like a form of bullying and abuse, it was a horrible one. And as bullying forms of abuse go, it's a really horrible one.' She continued: 'Yeah, it was like done on purpose to make me feel self-conscious and sh** about myself. And make them feel powerful. I don't think I've brushed my hair in any relationship. I just don't brush my hair full stop.' In recent months Lily has also been open about her recent marriage break-down to ex-husband David Harbour. Earlier this year it emerged she'd split from the Stranger Things star, 50, whom she met in 2019 and married the following year. Since their split it's been reported that he'd been on dating apps while they were still together and also engaged in a three-year long affair. Late last year Lily described 'not being in a great place mentally' and later that she was 'feeling like a burden when low and lonely'. Lily was previously in a relationship with the Chemical Brothers musician Ed Simons for five months in 2007. She then went to meet builder and decorator Sam Cooper two years later. They went on to marry in 2011 and gave birth to their daughter Ethel the same year. The couple then had a second daughter – Marnie – in 2013. However, they split in 2015 after Lily admitted to cheating on her husband with female escorts, which she detailed in her memoir My Thoughts Exactly. She has also previously dated art dealer Jay Jopling and grime MC Meridian Dan and was recently linked to Happy Valley actor James Norton. On her podcast last year Lily admitted she 'had children for all the wrong reasons'. 'I was yearning for unconditional love, which I haven't felt in my life since I was a child,' she said. 'Also, my career was at such a high speed, you know high pressure and I'm a people pleaser and I felt like very overwhelmed by what was happening. 'I just didn't get much respite and I felt like the one way to stop people hassling me, it's not about me it's about this other person that's inside me.' More Trending Earlier this month she also spoke about having several abortions, saying she would 'get pregnant all the time'. 'Abortions, I've had a few, but then again I can't remember exactly how many,' she said, before estimating she'd had 'about four or five'. Her comments come a few years after she took to the stage at Glastonbury with Olivia Rodrigo to sing her 00s classic F**k You in protest of the Supreme Court overturning Roe vs Wade that week. If you are experiencing domestic abuse, you are not alone. And whether you are currently coping with or have made the decision to leave, you do have options. If you are thinking about leaving, domestic abuse charity Refuge suggests starting a record of abusive incidents, which might include saving pictures or messages, or making notes of times, dates and details of incidents. The next step is to make copies of important documents such as court orders, marriage certificates, National Insurance Numbers and your driving licence. In the meantime, identify the safer areas of your home so that you know where to go if your abuser becomes aggravated. Ideally, this should be a room with a phone and a door or window to the outside. If you feel ready to leave, start by making a plan for a safe, reliable route out. If you feel safe to do so, pack an emergency bag so that you leave in a hurry if needed. You can access a local refuge, either with or without children, for as long as you need to stay. The address is confidential. The National Domestic Abuse Helpline (0808 2000 247) is open 24-hours a day and has all the details of refuges in your area. In an emergency situation, ring 999 and ask for the police. If you aren't able to talk, try the Silent Solution: after dialling 999, listen to the questions from the operator and respond by coughing or tapping your device, if possible. If prompted, press 55 to let the operator know it's an emergency – you'll be put through to the police. Read more here. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: You can't judge Lily Allen's abortion confession and be pro-choice
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Lily Allen reveals 'abusive and bullying' ex would cruelly accuse her of having 'poor hygiene' in a bid to feel 'powerful' and 'assert his control' over the singer
Lily Allen has revealed how one 'abusive and bullying' ex would cruelly accuse her of having poor hygiene in a bid to assert his control over the singer. The singer, 40, who did not name the former partner, made the revelation during the latest episode of her podcast Miss Me? in which she appears alongside pal Miquita Oliver. Lily said: 'It was somebody I was in a relationship with would do it to me [accusing her of having poor hygiene] and I don't think that it was real'. 'I think that it was like a form of bullying and abuse, it was a horrible one. And as bullying forms of abuse go, it's a really horrible one'. Lily continued: 'Yeah, it was like done on purpose to make me feel self-conscious and sh** about myself. And make them feel powerful. I don't think I've brushed my hair in any relationship. I just don't brush my hair full stop'. The smile hitmaker has been open about her rocky past relationships and marriages, most recently splitting from Stranger Things actor David Harbour, 50. They separated late last year after Lily speculated that David was using Raya and shortly after The Mail revealed the he had been having an affair for three out of the couple's four year marriage. Her first was builder Sam Cooper, with whom she shares daughters Ethel, 13, and Marnie, 11, revealing that she cheated on him with female escorts. The musician, whose parents are comic actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen, has ex-lovers including Ed Simons of DJ duo the Chemical Brothers, art dealer Jay Jopling and grime MC Meridian Dan. She has also been romantically linked at different times with actor Rupert Grint, who played Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter movies, and One Direction singer Zayn Malik. On Friday, Lily broke down in tears at end of new play Hedda. which tells the tale of a woman trapped in a loveless marriage. She was visibly crying for the curtain call with tears streaming down her face after her final suicide scene in the play, which runs at Theatre Royal Bath until Aug 23. Her starring role in the new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play, following the success of 2:22 A Ghost Story and The Pillowman. Directed by Matthew Dunster, she is the first to star in the new re-imagined show. The role is described as 'the hoop through which every actress with her eye on greatness must jump.' Ingrid Bergman, Peggy Ashcroft, Maggie Smith, Diana Rigg, Cate Blanchett, Glenda Jackson and Rosamund Pike have all played Ibsen's manipulative, tragic heroine Hedda. It will be only her third stage role, following a well-received stint in 2:22 A Ghost Story — in which she was directed by Dunster — and a slightly less well-received performance in Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman. She told DailyMail's Alison Boshoff last year: 'I am absolutely thrilled to be given the chance of playing Hedda Gabler. 'I adore working with Matthew Dunster and can't wait to explore this piece with him. 'I'm very excited to bring her to Bath next summer, in the intimacy of the Ustinov studio, it's going to be great.' Matthew added: 'Lily and I were talking about women we knew that were trapped in relationships where men had all the power, and how these 21st century women were still being controlled and destroyed. 'The conversation turned to plays where we could explore those ideas. We thought of Hedda Gabler and the connections were obvious, exciting and devastating. 'I relish watching Lily challenge herself, she pushes me, and I really value our ongoing collaboration. 'We want to offer up a Hedda that is absolutely for now.' Lily snagged an Olivier Award nomination for 2:22 A Ghost Story. Before then she had a small role as actress Elizabeth Taylor in the 2020 film How To Build A Girl, which was produced by her mother, Alison Owen, and based on the book by Caitlin Moran. She was also in the comedy series Margate. Lily enrolled in drama school in New York in 2023 and remarked that it was the first time she had studied since leaving school aged 15. She added that live theatre was: 'utterly terrifying; I don't think I've ever been more scared than before the opening nights'. The National Domestic Abuse Helpline can be called, for free and in confidence, 24 hours a day on 0808 2000 247
The Herald Scotland
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Giza via Glastonbury: first verdict on Tutankhamun
If you've been out and about in Glasgow, you'll have noticed the adverts, on buses, trains, billboards. 'Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition. Bringing Ancient Egypt to Life Like Never Before. Treasure Rooms. Interactive Digital Metaverse. VR Experience. Hologram. 360° Immersive Experience.' Sounds like quite a show. Does it deliver? They certainly know how to build your expectations. At the entrance to the venue in the SEC, the lighting's low, there's aah-ooh Temple of Doom music, and they deliberately tease you by holding back on the metaverse and VR bits, which is what most people have come for to be honest. The producers of the exhibition say it's designed for history fans, lovers of tech and the hardest of all audiences to please – children – so I'm wondering how they're going to do it, especially in the age when everyone's fingers are twitching to get back to their phones ASAP. At first, it's all surprisingly traditional: items in glass cases with explanatory notices, but what items. There's a page from the diary of Howard Carter, the man who discovered Tutankhamun, which captures the moment he first found evidence of the tomb's existence. Saturday, November 4, 1922. Five words scrawled, quickly, excitedly, over the page and nothing else. 'First steps of tomb found.' It's an extraordinary, and thrilling, object to look at. There are thrills - then-meets-now thrills - in the other objects too, which are a mix of genuine and facsimile. I'm fascinated by the sistrum, an intricate musical instrument from around 700BC, which is topped by a carving of the cat god Bastet; what did it sound like, hundreds of them being played at ceremonies? Other objects make you feel either very close or very distant from the time of Tut. There's a vase that looks like something you'd get in a gift shop today, but there's also a weird double-pyramid-shaped stone that makes you feel the distance of the 5,000 years since it was made. What was it for? Not even the experts know. A recreation of the tomb (Image: Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition) Then we're into the first of the immersive bits of the exhibition and suddenly we're in a vast 1,200 square-metre hall playing visions of ancient Egypt on the walls and the floor. At one point it feels like we're hitching a ride on a drone as it dives through a valley, then we're inside a temple with the wall paintings coming to life, then suddenly it's all thumping beats and strobing lights: Ancient Egypt by the Chemical Brothers, Giza via Glastonbury. We also stop off in the delta at one point and its inhabitants scurry up the walls and under our feet. Sufferers of entomophobia may wish to look away. The next immersive gallery is where it gets proper Matrix. You're led to a chair that turns 360°, you put on headphones and VR goggles and once you adjust to the new virtual world, you emerge from a sarcophagus – this is pretty macabre stuff at times – and scramble through the tomb to the world outside, and soar over the pyramids. It's cool, you'll like it. The second VR chamber is even more intense. This time you walk rather than sit and everyone else in the room is represented by virtual Howard Carters; you can also see your own hands in computerised form as you point at things. I'm probably not doing a good job of describing this because it's a new experience and disconcerting but definitely worth trying; put on the goggles and see for yourself. Read more Embark upon and exhilarating journey through ancient Egypt | The Herald 'Get it up ye Sturgeon!' The new front in the trans war Signs of trouble ahead for Glasgow's precious historic buildings The trick of the show as a whole is that, with videos that do big and objects that do tiny, it does well in living up to the promise of appealing to the different audiences: history fans, tech lovers, and children. In the video room, excited kids chase the animations across the floor and luckily the room's big enough for that not to be annoying. Perhaps the informative and the immersive could have been integrated more, with more facts to go with the epic bits, but just as I'm watching scarab beetles scurry under my chair, we hear the voice of Howard Carter echoing forwards from the 20s – 'we realised,' he says, 'that we were in the presence of the dead king'. It's another of the thrilling moments. As for the most interesting moment, for me anyway, and I'm not sure what it says about me, it's the bit in the hologram room where you find out exactly what mummification involves. The commentary explains how all the organs except the heart were removed from the body and how the brain was removed through the nose using a long hook. It's that dark little fact that will probably stay with me the longest. By the time I've reached the shop at the end – good shop by the way: pencils, T-shirts, bookmarks, proper old-school gift shop – I'm thinking this is probably how you need to do big exhibitions now; objects behind glass on their own won't cut it anymore, and the epic bits are epic. Maybe we could have had more about ordinary Egyptians (who suffered for all this gold?) but The Immersive Exhibition – using tricks of the trade from Indiana Jones and Glastonbury and Minecraft – achieves its aim of pleasing lovers of history and lovers of tech and lovers of both. And if you haven't tried VR before, this is a fun place to start. Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition is at the SEC until October 26th.
Irish Times
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
‘My first proper job was Ents Officer at UCD. It was incredible'
Paul Davis has more than three decades of experience in the Irish and international events and entertainment industries. In 2013, he founded Davis Events Agency, which in 2023 was listed in the 2023 Global Eventex Top 100 Event Organisers and Agencies. Are you a saver or a spender? I would lean more towards being a spender than a saver. I've been running my business for a long time, and I think I recognise when something is a good investment. What was the first job you received money for, and how much were you paid? My first proper job was Ents Officer at UCD . It was incredible. Club culture was just arriving in Ireland and, as well as organising events all over the place, I got to bring amazing acts like the Chemical Brothers, The Shamen, Urban Cookie Collective and David Holmes in for gigs at the university. I was paid a few hundred pounds a month, but it was all about the fantastic experience and memories. Do you shop around for better value? I love getting a bargain in music and clothes – you can get amazing value in second-hand vinyl, in particular. Dublin was full of great second-hand and thrift shops in the 1990s before they died away, but it's great to see some coming back now. I was in San Francisco recently and had a brilliant time going around Haight Street and all the vintage stores. READ MORE What has been your most extravagant purchase, and how much did it cost? I spent £2,000 on a set of SL1210 decks when I was much younger. It was a massive expense for me at the time. I couldn't really afford them but I got them anyway. They were worth every penny. What purchase have you made that you consider the best value for money? When the Walkman came out, I thought it was the best thing ever invented. I love music so much and being able to access music whenever and wherever I went was a game changer. Likewise, when the iPod came out. It wasn't cheap, but being able to access even more music meant it was totally worth it. Is there anything you regret spending money on? It's not quite a regret but I wish I didn't have to have a car. I live in the city and ride my bike everywhere so having a car feels counterintuitive. I regularly use DublinBikes and the like in other cities, too. In Nice, for example, you can take a public bike at the airport and cycle into the city! Do you haggle over prices? I haggle because I like to get value, although I've been known to embarrass my family at times. Do you invest in shares and/or cryptocurrency? I have invested in shares. The concept makes sense to me because you're investing and helping to build a business large or small, albeit while hoping to get a return for yourself. Cryptocurrency doesn't feel tangible enough for me, so I haven't invested so far. Do you have a retirement or pension plan? At the moment, retirement doesn't seem to factor into my thinking. I have no plans in that area because I love what I do so much. Enjoying your job is a real gift, so it would be very hard to stop. I have a pension plan, however, which involves a set of funds that I manage myself. What was the last thing you bought, and was it good value for money? I recently bought another copy of Carol Dweck's Growth Mindset book, and I'm reading it again. It reminds me of the need to stay positive and to have a positive outlook. I love reading so, for me, a book is always great value. Have you ever successfully saved up for a relatively big purchase? It took me about a year to save up for the SL1210 decks. Have you ever lost money? Yes, when I was younger. I began organising gigs when I was a teenager. The nature of the business means you lose money more than you make – you've got to love it and figure out how to make a living out of it. Are you a gambler and, if so, have you ever had a big win? I'm not a gambler but when I was about 12, I made a pound from a bet on the Grand National. That was a big deal! These days, I occasionally take a punt during big racing festivals. What is your best habit when it comes to money? And your worst? I think my best is spending it on the right things. I'm not a big spender in general, but I'm happy to do so to look after family, have a holiday and the like. My worst is probably that I'm not careful enough with it. How much money do you have on you now? I keep an emergency €5 note in the back of my phone. That's it! In conversation with Tony Clayton-Lea
Business Mayor
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
Block Rockin' Beats by The Chemical Brothers
Explosive, relentless and utterly electrifying, the Chemical Brothers ' ' Block Rockin' Beats ' is a seismic event that redefined the landscape of electronic music . Released as the opening track of the Manchester duo Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands Dig Your Own Hole , this iconic anthem epitomises TCB's ability to fuse big beat aggression with hypnotic grooves. This ain't just 'club music'. From the moment the bassline drops, the track exerts a gravitational pull. The sampled, swaggering vocal – taken from Schoolly D's 'Gucci Again' – demands attention, setting the tone for what follows: pounding drum loops, distorted synths, and a visceral energy that is packed anarchy. The track's layering is masterful – each beat lands like a punch, each sound twisting and colliding to build a crescendo of pure adrenaline. What makes it beautiful, though, is its precision within the chaos. This is finely honed craftsmanship. TCB engineers movement, tension and euphoric release in equal measure, making 'Block Rockin' Beats' a DJ's secret weapon, and endorphin agent. Decades after its arrival, its pulse still beats like some dark, glowing core.
